Success Stories

FLS Energy, Inc. is a rapidly growing designer and installer of solar thermal (hot water heating) and solar photovoltaic (electric generation) systems for residential and commercial customers. Building designer Hardy LeGwin together with Dale Freudenberger, a general contractor, and Michael Shore, an engineer, incorporated FLS Energy in the spring of 2006 to make solar energy mainstream sooner rather than later. In 2008 FLS' accelerating growth led it to seek financing from Mountain BizWorks. FLS later borrowed from Natural Capital Investment Fund and eventually leveraged traditional bank loans to continue growing. FLS grew from less than 10 employees to 75 employees over a 4-year period and increased sales by 200% in 2010.

In 1999, Joe and Annie Ritota started Annie's Naturally Bakery out of their garage, specializing in organic and natural products. Once a popular retail location in Sylva, today Annie's is a wholesale operation in Asheville with products available in grocery stores and restaurants across Western NC. Over the years, Consulting helped Joe and Annie to solve cash flow, inventory, and bookkeeping challenges. We also helped them create the business plan for their wholesale plant, and provided loan services to help the business grow. As a result, Annie's revenue increased from $700,000 to $1.4 million in only 4 years. They currently employ 15 FT and 17 PT employees.

After working for years in a struggling Latino bakery in Asheville, Luis Soto, along with his wife Maria, acquired the bakery in 2010 and renamed it Los Nenes. With coaching from Mountain BizWorks, they developed a business plan and learned how to analyze cash flow. In 2011, the Sotos came back to Mountain BizWorks for a loan to purchase the butcher/grocery store adjacent to Los Nenes – La Piedrita, a well-known establishment in the Latino community. The owners see an opportunity to build on the existing clientele by better coordinating the offerings of the two stores. With this new business, they are poised to find a permanent foothold in the middle class and become models for the Latino small business community.

After living in Costa Rica where they owned a cacao farm and ran a cafe and dessert shop, self-taught chocolatiers Jael and Dan Rattigan moved to Asheville in 2006. Honing their trade from home and selling chocolates online and at tailgate markets, Jael and Dan decided they were ready to grow into a retail location. In 2007, they took Mountain BizWorks' Foundations training course, which helped them to write a business plan. In 2008 they opened the French Broad Chocolate Lounge in Asheville, featuring handcrafted artisanal chocolates and pastries, hot chocolates, and local beer and coffee. A popular downtown destination, today they have 14 full-time and 11 part-time employees.

Skipper Russell has been farming his entire life, but became a full time farmer in 2008. His 35-acre farm in Bethel, Seasonal Produce Farm, sells tomatoes, bell peppers, beans, lettuce, basil, broccoli, potatoes, cucumbers and sweet corn to clients such as Ingles Markets and Haywood County Schools. His farm employs up to 30 people seasonally, and he has worked hard to obtain certifications that allow him to provide produce to larger institutions such as schools and hospitals. Skipper also owns Canton Corn Maze, an agri-tourism family-fun business open annually from mid-September to Halloween. Surviving the sluggish economy has been a challenge, but Mountain BizWorks training has helped Skipper to diversify his offerings and plan for expanded direct marketing efforts.

Bryant Belin owns VP Music Studios in Hendersonville, which provides individual and group music instruction, audio production classes, and Kindermusic Classes to the Western North Carolina area. Bryant took advantage of the Foundations business planning course and one-on-one coaching to learn the “ins and outs” of business and marketing tactics before opening his doors in 2010. Today, VP Music Studios has 5 part-time music instructors and recently launched a sponsorship program, enabling community members to sponsor individuals who want to take lessons but do not have the resources to do so. Plans are also underway to build a production studio which will be available for the community's recording needs.

Before launching Short Street Cakes, Jodi Rhoden whipped up cakes in her home to generate income for her family. Jodi realized that in order for the business to really take off and succeed, she needed a larger capacity than her certified home kitchen. Jodi took Mountain BizWorks' Foundations class and created a business plan to formalize her business. With a plan in place, Jodi rented space at Asheville-Buncombe Technical College's Blue Ridge Food Venture campus. A couple of years later, she opened her cake shop in West Asheville. 2011 marked Short Street Cake's 7th anniversary as a retail store, where Jodi and 7 other workers earn a living and turn out made-from-scratch delights.

As a teenager, Sally Lyndsay-Madrid taught herself how to paint faux finishes. Over the years, she continued her self-taught journey in Florida and WNC. She founded Opulent Wall Designs in 2006 in Hendersonville, and today offers a range of upscale interior services, including faux painting, custom wallpaper, cabinet finishes, and artistic plaster. Sally’s all-female work crew impresses clients with their precise, professional workmanship. She recalls that while others doubted the success of a “non-essential” service during a recession, Mountain BizWorks was always supportive. Sally returns to Mountain BizWorks for business coaching every time she hits a roadblock or has a new idea for growth. With work featured in interior design magazines, Opulent Wall Designs is now poised to expand from WNC to the greater Southeast.